Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Plot

Plot

The film opens with Lieutenant Saavik (Kirstie Alley) in command of the starship USS Enterprise. The vessel is on a rescue mission to save the crew of a damaged ship in the Neutral Zone along the border with Klingon space when it is attacked by Klingon cruisers and critically damaged. The "attack" is revealed to be a simulator training exercise known as the "Kobayashi Maru"; a no-win scenario designed to test the character of Starfleet officers. Admiral James T. Kirk oversees the simulator session of Captain Spock's trainees. Celebrating his birthday, Kirk is later joined for drinks by Dr. McCoy, who advises him to get a new command and not waste his career behind a desk.

The USS Reliant is on a mission to search for a lifeless planet for testing of the Genesis Device, a torpedo that reorganizes matter to create habitable worlds for colonization but can also destroy planets. Reliant officers Commander Pavel Chekov and Captain Clark Terrell beam down to the surface of a possible candidate planet, Ceti Alpha VI, where they are captured by genetically engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh. The Enterprise discovered Khan's ship adrift in space fifteen years previously; Kirk exiled Khan and his fellow supermen from 20th century Earth to Ceti Alpha V. Khan reveals that after they were marooned, Ceti Alpha VI exploded, destroying Ceti Alpha V's ecosystem and shifting its orbit. Khan blames Kirk for the death of his wife and plans to avenge her. He implants Chekov and Terrell with indigenous, mind-controlling eels that enter the ears of their victims and uses the officers to gain control of the Reliant. Learning of Genesis, Khan attacks Space Station Regula I where the device is being developed by Kirk's former lover, Dr. Carol Marcus, and their son, David.

The Enterprise embarks on a three week training voyage under the command of Spock. Kirk assumes command of the Enterprise after the ship receives a distress call from Regula I and goes on active duty. En route, the Enterprise is ambushed by the Reliant. The attack cripples the Enterprise and many of its trainees are either injured or killed. A transmission between the two ships reveals Khan knows of the Genesis Device and demands that all the information related to the project sent to him. Kirk stalls for time and uses Reliant's prefix code to remotely lower their shields, allowing the Enterprise to counter-attack. Khan is forced to retreat and effect repairs, while the Enterprise limps to Regula I. Kirk, McCoy, and Saavik beam to the station where they find Terrell and Chekov along with slaughtered members of the Genesis Project team. The team finds the remaining scientists, including Carol and David, hidden deep inside the planetoid of Regula. Using Terrell and Chekov as spies, Khan transports the Genesis Device aboard Reliant and then orders them to kill Kirk; Terrell resists the eel's influence and kills himself while Chekov collapses in agony. Though Khan believes his foe stranded on Regula I, Kirk and Spock use a coded message to arrange a rendezvous. Kirk then directs the Enterprise into the nearby Mutara Nebula; static discharges from the nebula render both ships' defensive shields useless and compromise targeting systems, making the Enterprise and Reliant evenly matched. Kirk exploits Khan's inexperience in space combat to critically disable the Reliant.

Mortally wounded, Khan activates the Genesis Device, which will reorganize all matter in the nebula including the Enterprise. Though Kirk's crew detects the activation of the Genesis Device and the Enterprise attempts to move out of range using impulse engines, with the warp drive damaged they will not be able to escape the nebula in time. Spock leaves the bridge and goes to the engine room to restore the warp drive. When McCoy tries to prevent Spock's exposure to high levels of radiation, he incapacitates the doctor with a Vulcan nerve pinch and then performs a mind meld, telling him to "Remember". Spock restores power to the warp drive and the Enterprise escapes the explosion. Kirk arrives in the engine room, where Spock dies of radiation poisoning. The explosion of the Genesis Device causes the gas in the nebula to reform into a new planet, sustainable of life. A space burial is held in the Enterprise's torpedo room and Spock's coffin is shot into orbit around the newly formed planet. The crew leaves the planet to pick up the Reliant's marooned crew from Ceti Alpha V. In the final scene Spock's coffin is seen to have soft-landed on the planet. Spock narrates Star Trek's "Where no man has gone before" monologue as the view moves forward into a field of stars.